Breast Cancer

“Endurance is a decision, not a quality.” ~ John Munger What is endurance? How does one endure? How much can one endure? These questions have entranced me for much of my life. It’s what drew me to Vipassana meditation almost 20 years ago. It’s what captured my imagination and my body when I discovered my … Read more

It’s the day after October 20th, my 15th cancerversary, as I write this post. Yes, I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time on October 20th, 2004. I’m still alive and I’m still working to help women transform their lives after going through a mastectomy. After all I have survived, I am profoundly … Read more

“What is love? Gratitude. What is hidden in our chests? Laughter. What else? Compassion.” – Rumi I have profound gratitude for the presence of one teacher in my life. Her name is Ki Ki Gore. She was the daughter of Greek immigrants. She was my high school Spanish teacher. I attended three high schools over … Read more

Do you like to volunteer? I’ve noticed that I tend to make close friendships with people who enjoy volunteering. I was assessing my current volunteering efforts, and I realized that one of my current all-time favorite volunteering efforts is with Personal Ink, P.ink Tattoo Day MSP. Personal Ink is a program of FCancer (let’sFcancer) that … Read more

On Sunday, October 14, 2018, 14 women who all had mastectomies as part of their breast cancer treatments, got a complimentary tattoo over her scars as part of the Minneapolis – Saint Paul P.ink Tattoo Day. P.ink, pronounced pea ink, stands for Personal Ink. P.ink is an organization that is 100% volunteer run, and here … Read more

Eight years ago this month, I found out I had breast cancer for a second time. In August of 2010, I had the cancer infested breast cut off. I tend to be a minimalist, so I only had the one breast removed. I don’t have any genes that say I’m at genetic risk for breast … Read more

Every once in a while I write about my breast cancer experience and the scar on my chest. Because I live day in and day out with type 1 diabetes, which consumes my attention, it’s easy for me to forget that I survived two grueling rounds of cancer. Then I look in the mirror and … Read more

You all know that I have been living with diabetes for 37 years and that much of my life and drive to keep up with endurance training is because my diabetes management is exponentially better when I regularly exercise. (oh yes, turns out that’s true for most of us, diabetes or not!) I don’t talk … Read more

After living with diabetes for 36.5 years and after surviving breast cancer twice, I’ve come to prioritize self-care. What is self-care you ask? Well, in my world it means that I pay attention to the basic things I need to stay healthy, fit, calm, centered and productive. It means that I make it my Number … Read more

Note from Mari: This is a blog post written by Michelle Scharber Banks. Michelle was a volunteer at P.ink Day MSP 2015 and again for 2016. In addition, she got her transformative, healing tattoo this year. Here is Michelle’s beautiful story & a poem she wrote, in her own words: After the Tattoo I’ve been … Read more

Medical Disclaimer

I’m Mari and I’m an amateur endurance athlete who has had type 1 diabetes for almost 40 years. I’ve survived breast cancer twice. I am not a medical professional nor am I giving medical advice.

I’ve worked closely with athletic coaches, diabetes experts, cancer experts, and many sports nutrition experts. Plus I have hundreds of friends who are athletes first and people who live with diabetes, cancer or other major health challenges, second.

Along the way, I’ve picked up a few hot tips that I share for inspiration in figuring out the athletic and wellness puzzle. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota with my three bikes, my many pairs of running shoes, my swim goggles, my love of cooking healthy food every week and my very athletic rescue dog Sam!